Jackson Hole / Yellowstone

[sunshinedaydreams]

We just go back from there on Monday and had a great time! Honestly, I was a bit underwhelmed by Yellowstone after having visited other parks like Denali and Yosemite, and the geyser basins in Iceland. BUT, it was still really cool to see. Drive the park, especially up on the NE side to see the buffalo (or at least that's the main area we saw them). Mammoth Hot Springs was cool. We didn't do any hiking b/c we were on the trip with my mobility-limited grandpa, but I really wanted to hike to Heart Lake.

If you want to see Old Faithful erupt, check out the predictions ahead of time online. We got there right as it was erupting and barely saw it from the parking lot and the next one wasn't predicted for another hour and a half.

I got the advice from Brit to drive the Bear Tooth Pass from Red Lodge, MT to the park, and it was amazing, but several hours from where you'll be in Jackson. If you have a free day, it might be worth it to drive it for the scenery. IMO, it was prettier than the actual park, and you can drive through the park to get there. Last week they still had a ski lift running right off the side of the road.

In Jackson, we took the tram to the top of the mountain. Nice views from up top, and there were several people hiking around, but again, we didn't get to hike because we were with my grandpa.

We had dinner at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar steakhouse in Jackson and it was good. It was a bit on the pricey side, but nice atmosphere and good food. I'm pretty sure they had a mechanical bull in the bar upstairs, but we had my 5yo niece so didn't get to check it out. It's right on the main drag in Jackson.

We did lunch one day at the Mangy Moose in Teton Village. They have a nice patio out back and a decent beer selection. Food was just okay.

ETA:  That tagged the wrong person.  I meant Brit who posts here.  Not whoever that was I just tagged.  Oops.

[Moe]

I loved Yellowstone, it was fun to drive through (though it took an exceptional amount of time from where we were staying, a Lodge in the Tetons, closer to Jackson). It's fun to see the geiser, it's cool to see the buffalo so close by, it's interesting to see all the hot springs with such bubbly concoctions (the shades of blue and red are spectacular).

But NOTHING compared to the Tetons. I don't know why, but they were tremendously magical and majestic. I could just stare at them all day. We hiked around the lodge a lot, there were some easy hikes to be had.

[frlcb]

Jun 27, 2013 19:34:05 GMT -5 Moe said:

I loved Yellowstone, it was fun to drive through (though it took an exceptional amount of time from where we were staying, a Lodge in the Tetons, closer to Jackson). It's fun to see the geiser, it's cool to see the buffalo so close by, it's interesting to see all the hot springs with such bubbly concoctions (the shades of blue and red are spectacular).

But NOTHING compared to the Tetons. I don't know why, but they were tremendously magical and majestic. I could just stare at them all day. We hiked around the lodge a lot, there were some easy hikes to be had.

I agree with this. The Tetons are amazing. Take the boat across Jenny Lake and do the hike to the waterfall.

[mx27]

this is on my must visit list!

thanks for the suggestions!

[aurora]

Jun 27, 2013 18:29:17 GMT -5 sunshinedaydreams said:

We just go back from there on Monday and had a great time! Honestly, I was a bit underwhelmed by Yellowstone after having visited other parks like Denali and Yosemite, and the geyser basins in Iceland. BUT, it was still really cool to see. Drive the park, especially up on the NE side to see the buffalo (or at least that's the main area we saw them). Mammoth Hot Springs was cool. We didn't do any hiking b/c we were on the trip with my mobility-limited grandpa, but I really wanted to hike to Heart Lake.
...

That's interesting that you thought Yellowstone was underwhelming compared to Denali. They're both fantastic in my opinion, but in very different ways. Denali is always going to be much grander (assuming the mountain is out) and have more exotic wildlife, but Yellowstone has many more interesting little sights. Of course, I've never been to the geyser basins in Iceland and that sounds awesome, so my calibration might be off.

To @sfgal530, you could definitely spend many days hiking in both Yellowstone and the Tetons, and you can pretty much do it all on your own. In the Tetons, we just did a bunch of shorter hikes. In Yellowstone, we stopped at pretty much all the pullouts listed on the maps and hiked the boardwalks. We waited around for a couple of the less reliable geysers (only one of them actually erupted for us) in addition to Old Faithful. The waterfalls are pretty impressive, too. It's really fascinating to think that the whole thing is essentially a massive volcano that could erupt, and if it did it could wipe out life on earth.

[Deleted]

We went last year for our honeymoon and stayed at The Rusty Parrott they have a great restaurant. We also did Paul Martins Photo Safari, it was great but I am an avid photographer. We got to hunt for wildlife and see some areas of the Tetons we otherwise wouldn't. My blog has a couple of posts with lots more details.

[caddywompus]

I am glad to read all this- I have been thinking about planning a trip out there, and all this info gives me a good starting point.  Thanks!

[Brit]

sunshinedaydreams - Glad you liked the Beartooth Pass!